Cltjstek-pilk



N. G. SCOTT.

CLUSTER me.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 27' 1920.

.1 ,365,197. Patented Jan. 11, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

JVaE 6. Scoflv N. G. SCOTT.

CLUSTER FILE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 21, 1920.

Patented Jan. 11, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

4 H ]4 w i Z m n. w L .6... 0 m V Q; Q @T... 1 3T; w 4 t; w U l w m f bF a -7- 0 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NATHANIEL G. SCOTT, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

CLUSTER-FILE.

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NATHANIEL G. Soo'rr, a citizen of the United States,residing at New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State ofLouisiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cluster-Piles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to what are known as cluster piles, 2'. 6.,bundles of piles or posts driven into a water-bed and used to protectwharves, piers and the like and to provide supports to which. vesselsmay be tied or made fast.

Ordinarily these bundles or clusters of piles are driven in asubstantially vertical direction into the waterbed and mutually supporteach other to a large extent, but experience has demonstrated that inmany cases they do not sufiiciently do this, but become loose andseparate and so do not perform satisfactory service.

My improvements are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a wharf, showing cluster piles at the cornersthereof, and this figure of the drawing also shows cluster pilesarranged some distance from the wharf to which vessels may be made fast;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of one form of cluster pile;

Fig. 4 illustrates one way in which the diagonal piles may be bolted tothe vertical piles, and

Fig. 5 shows another way of doing this;

Fig. 6 is aperspective view on an enlarged scale, showing more clearlythe manner in which the diagonal piles may be interlaced with thevertical piles and secured thereto;

Fig. 7 is a plan View of the parts shown in Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of another form of cluster pile showing howsome of the diagonal piles may be interlaced with the vertical piles,while other diagonal piles are bolted to the outside of the bundle ofvertical piles;

Fig. 9 is a plan view of what is shown in Fig. 8.

In Figs. 1 and 2 a common form of wharf or pier is indicated at A. Atits corners the wharf is provided with cluster piles B to strengthen thewharf, receive the impact of vessels and to provide means to which theSpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 11, 1921.

27, 1920. Serial No. 412,905.

vessels may be made fast. Each cluster pile B is composed of verticalpiles b and diagonally arranged piles 6', o The vertical plles b are sodriven that their upper ends may be separated sutficiently to allow thediagonal piles b, b to be driven by the pile driver between them. Theseveral piles, when fully driven, have their upper ends interlaced asshown. The diagonal piles are bolted to the vertical piles as indicatedat 6 and wire rope or cable If is wrapped around the upper ends of thepiles as shown. In this way cluster piles of great strength anddurability are obtained, being efficiently braced to relieve strainswherever needed.

Fig. 6 indicates, on a larger scale, the manner of connecting thevertical and diagonal piles shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and it will beobserved that the vertical piles are slightly spread apart at theirupper ends to receive the upper ends of the diagonal piles, that thevertical piles are firmly held together by the wire rope and that thediagonal piles are securely bolted to the vertical piles.

It is often desirable to provide cluster piles at some distance from thewharf or pier to which vessels may be made fast. I have indicated suchpiles at O in Figs. 1 and 2. The same arrangement of piles as thatbefore described may be employed, but the drawings show a modification,in which the vertical piles c (Fig. 2) are arranged close together andthe diagonal piles 0 have their upper ends bolted at c to the verticalpiles. The vertical piles are bound together at their upper ends by awire rope 0 This construction is shown in perspective in Fig. 3. Thebolts 0 may be arranged horizontally, as shown in Fig. 1, or inclined asillustrated in Fig. 5. In the arrangement shown in Fig. 1 a vessel maybe made fast to the cluster piles B arranged close to the pier and alsoto the cluster piles removed some distance therefrom and thus securelyheld or the cluster piles may be used to moor vessels in a channel at aconsiderable distance from the pier. In Figs. 8 and 9 I have illustrateda cluster pile in which some of the inclined piles b are interlaced withthe vertical piles b and some are secured to the outside thereof. Inthis construction the cluster is braced on three sides instead of onlyon two sides, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination with a pier having cluster piles at its outercorners, of a cluster pile driven some distance from thepier to leave aclear water space between it and the pier, said last mentioned clustercomprising a plurality of vertical piles bound together at their upperends to form a cylindrical bunch and a plurality of batter piles drivenaround the bunch of vertical piles, each of the outer vertical piles ofthe bunch being braced by a batter pile at its upper end.

2. A cluster pile comprising a plurality of vertical piles boundtogether at their upper ends, and a plurality of diagonally arrangedpiles having their upper portions interlaced with the upper portions ofthe vertical piles and bolted thereto.

3. A cluster pile comprising a plurality of vertical piles boundtogether at their up per ends, and a plurality of diagonal bracingpiles, the upper ends of which cross each other, are interlaced with thevertical piles and are firmly bolted thereto.

4. A cluster pile comprising a plurality of vertical piles boundtogether at their upper ends, and a plurality of diagonal bracing pilessome of which have their upper ends interlaced with the vertical pilesand cross each other and some of which have their upper portions boltedto the outside of the vertical piles.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name.

NATHANIEL G. SCOTT.

